A blog launched on the 41st anniversary of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the first pro-life organisation in the world, established on 11 January 1967. SPUC has been a leader in the educational and political battle against abortion, human embryo experimentation and euthanasia since then. I write this blog in my role as SPUC's chief executive, commenting on pro-life news, reflecting on pro-life issues and promoting SPUC's work.

Saturday, 6 September 2014

Sex education: the destruction of childhood

Antonia Tully

The first address of day II of SPUC's national conference 2014 was given this morning by Antonia Tully, national coordinator of SPUC's Safe at School campaign, on the theme "Sex education: the destruction of childhood". Antonia spoke mostly about primary schools (ages five to eleven). This is what Safe at School is focusing on, because that is where the current battle on sex education is located.

Reality of sex education in primary schools today:
Graphic materials are used in primary school sex education, "giving children the impression that sex is part of their lives". Same-sex issues are promoted and parents are excluded.

Living and GrowingLiving and Growing is the most widely-used sex education programme. It sets a sort of 'gold standard' for the sex education lobby. Living and Growing:

makes young children aware of their sexual organs

introduces them to sexual intercourse.

normalises sex for young children.

Andrea Leadsom, the Conservative MP, said about Living and Growing:

“Until you have seen this, you can’t believe, how awful this programme is.”

Others who have seen it have said: there is nothing as horrible in our countries (US, in Europe)Living and Growing has nothing to do with childhood
It features the voice-over of a young child accompanying the clip of sexual intercourse:

“They do look happy, don’t they?”

Sexual intercourse is thus presented as a game.

A recent letter from a parent in The Times revealed the great emotional agony children are experiencing as a result of sex education classes. Parents call Antonia saying:

"My child thinks now that she should be doing it."

A Journey of Love is a so-called “Catholic” approach somewhat similar to Living and Growing. It contains a teacher’s note that masturbation is a normal part of growing up.

Children and schools pitted against parents:
Modern sex education programmes have nothing to do with parents. Schools are deemed to be the experts. Parents are held at arm's length.
Children are encouraged to:

train your parents

talk to them as adults

show them that you can be sensible and very often they learn to be sensible too.

The idea that parents need to be trained is now getting into teachers’ heads. But the parents are the experts!

Child protection:
Ofsted has raised the question about the state of sex education in schools. The push is to equip children with tools to defend themselves, protect themselves. What really protects a child? Knowing that their parents are their protectors. Sex education lobby shifts the responsibility of protecting the child to the child himself. The Sex Education Forum has claimed that children will be vulnerable unless they get sex education in schools. Yet there is no evidence to support the claim that children need sex education to stop sexual abuse/exploitation. Calls to NSPCC and Lucy Faithful Foundation reveal that neither organisation was able to give any studies that his claim was based on.

Why sex education is destruction of childhood:
Children need a natural childhood in order to reach mature adult age.
It undermines the parents, and weakens the families.
In our over-sexualised culture, children need their parents to give them strength to cope with it.
If families are destroyed, lives are destroyed. This is why SPUC is working so hard on this.
No evidence that sex education is contributing to fall in teenage pregnancy. There has, however, been a fall in teenage pregnancies since 2008. Some possible reasons, suggested by Professor David Paton of Nottingham University, are:

more and more widespread use of long-acting contraception

immigration

fewer people leaving school with no qualifications.

less drinking.

Guidelines for school from the sex education lobby:

Parents now removed from the guidelines

Ask young people what they want to be talk about

Bring in experts

Treat sex as normal and pleasurable part of life

Safe at School approach:

Parents are at the head of what Safe at School is fighting for. Children need their parents to protect them. Young people are defenceless against anti-life propaganda. They have reduced resistance to the pressure of casual sex and abortion.

Parents are the experts in educating their own children about sexual matters, supported by schools. Parents teach their family's values to their children not schools. The role of parents is at the heart of the campaign against compulsory sex education. Keeping sex education non-compulsory is an acknowledgement that parents are responsible for their children, not the state.

No matter who wins the General Election 2015 there will be moves to introduce compulsory sex education. All three parties are heading toward the direction of the compulsory sex education.

We must prepare for a major battle to uphold the rights of parents as the primary educators and protectors of their children.We must get parents reaffirmed to be in the centre of their children’s lives. We cannot hope to defeat abortion, if the families are destroyed this way.

John Smeaton

About Me

I became involved in SPUC after graduating, when I established a branch in south London in 1974. I have worked full-time for SPUC for 39 years. I became chief executive of SPUC in the UK in 1996, having been general secretary since 1978. I was elected vice-president of International Right to Life Federation in 2005. At UN conferences in Cairo, Copenhagen, Beijing, Istanbul and Rome, I helped coordinate more than 150 pro-life/pro-family groups resulting in pro-life victories in Cairo, Istanbul and Rome. I was educated at Salesian College, London, before going to Oxford where I graduated in English Language and Literature. I qualified as a teacher, becoming head of English at a secondary school. I am married to Josephine. We have a grown-up family and we live in north London.

Acknowledgement

I am grateful to SPUC's staff, supporters and advisers for their help to me in researching, writing and producing this blog.

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